Army reaps great heights @127: Bracing further as world-class Phl troops

There will be no let-up in the Philippine Army’s goal to become world-class Filipino troops.

Looking back since the establishment of the Philippine Army about 127 years ago, Col. Louie Dema-ala underscored the organization has gained great heights in its goal to improve its capabilities as well as push for more professional personnel suitable to defending the nation and protecting the Filipinos.

“Since the adoption of the Philippine governance system and the implementation of the Philippine Army roadmap, we have done so many things already that improve our systems and processes,” Dema-ala, army spokesperson, said in an interview over the Daily Tribune’s Straight Talk show.

Dema-ala noted that human rights violation cases involving army soldiers have also declined throughout the years.

“Our soldiers became more professional and disciplined,” he stressed.

“Those cases where army soldiers are known before already diminished. Our trust rating has also gone high,” he added, attributing the organization’s great heights to the army’s transformation roadmap efforts.

Dema-ala likewise said the adoption of the army's transformation roadmap also helped the organization further improve its capabilities.

“We cannot say that we already entered the first world [in terms of security operations] but at least, we could say that we are at par now with our neighboring countries in the Southeast Asian region,” he said.

Strong Phl Army

At present, the Philippine Army has more than 120,000 active soldiers and almost a million reservists, including almost 2,000 human resource civilian personnel, nationwide.

“If we look at our requirements for security and the current trend, we could say that we are still lacking personnel but we are improving our systems and process so we could still perform our mandate to exceed expectations from the Philippine Army,” said Dema-ala.

Citing the current security situation in the country, Dema-ala said the Philippine Army still has to recruit at least half of the total number of troops serving across the country.

According to Dema-ala, the Philippine Army has set aside at least 4,000 quotas for the enlisted personnel.

“However, our applicants have already increased to more than 30,000 nationwide, aside from that, we have an 800 quota for officers and there are a lot of Filipinos applying to this position, that’s why, we are carefully implementing our selection process so we can choose the best and the brightest among this applicants,” the army official said.

In applying for an entry-level, a chosen enlisted personnel could get at least a P30,000 minimum salary, excluding other benefits and insurance while in active service.

Army applicants who will land in service as level-entry officers, like second lieutenant, will get higher pay.

Dema-ala said the Philippine Army will need more than "warriors" amid the evolving needs and current security situation and external threats,

“We actually need more personnel for cyber defense. We need more people with technical skills and assistance. That’s one of the priorities of the Philippine Army in the recruitment process,” he said.

Parallel to increasing the number of army personnel, Dema-ala said the organization is also focusing on upgrading the equipment of individual soldiers under the force protection initiative.

Each soldier should be provided with Kevlar helmets, bulletproof vests, and upgraded firearms.

“Most of our soldiers now have their own individual short firearm. Unlike before, these firearms were just given to officers only. This time, even enlisted personnel also have their short firearms,” he said.

Modernizing Army capability

Further, the army is set to receive light tanks and the latest armored vehicles, including self-propelled howitzers, needed to perform its mandates.

“These are still undergoing technical inspection and acceptance processing,” said Dema-ala.

He added the Philippine Army is also investing in the training of all soldiers, a prerequisite to the modernization of the equipment.

Dema-ala noted that soldiers must also be knowledgeable in utilizing modern army equipment.

“In 10 years from now, our modernization is now at 8 out of 10. Although we are still improving, we are modernizing depending on the needs of the security environment right now. There’s a continuous effort to modernize,” he said.

“We are hoping—part of our modernization and transformation, we are envisioning that by 2040, we will become a world-class Philippine army that is multi-domain capable with this modern equipment,” Dema-ala stressed.

Despite the target, Dema-ala acknowledged the fast-paced evolution of the security environment.

“We also recognized that the procured equipment for this year may be obsolete five years from now so the Philippine Army continues to modernize,” he said.

Boosting cyber security defense

Amid the evolving security threats, Dema-ala said the Philippine Army is prioritizing the enhancement of its cyber security for territorial defense.

“That’s part of our wishlist for the modernization so we can have a territorial defense that we will be able to deny possible invasion and further defense of the territory,” he said.

There’s a continuous updating and upgrading of the Army’s cyber security protocols, he added.

There were monitored hacking attempts against the Philippine Army’s portal, but these were all foiled by its existing cyber battalion.

He, however, noted that some hacked Facebook accounts of army field units were also immediately recovered.

Dema-ala said such hacking incidents of army units’ social media accounts "do not pose so many security concerns."

“We are doing our best to become proactive in deterring these cyber attacks, especially in the future. That’s why we continue to upgrade our security protocols,” he added.